


Chapter XII: Linger and Sway

by SallySS



Series: Love Trunk [15]
Category: Claymore (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Cannibalism, Character Death, F/F, spiritual awakening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 19:27:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20215009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SallySS/pseuds/SallySS
Summary: Excerpts from the daily life of Rona, a new addition to the warriors known as Claymore, led by the mysterious Organization. Follow her through her struggles and triumphs as she fights to survive against the flesh craved yoma and awakened beings.- Rona struggles with the disconnect between body and soul, and her place in this conflict. Flung headlong into destiny, she must make her decisions.





	Chapter XII: Linger and Sway

“Your alliance with us for this battle would be an inarguable edge against the organization.”   
  
Rona pulled her hands from out of her hair and looked up at Clare from her seat in the grass, not putting much effort into hiding her sneer from the comment. It was asked lifelessly, like a soulless vessel asking her to give up everything she held dear. “That’s rich, cause 10 minutes ago you just tried some hack medicine on me in an attempt to amputate my head.”

“Your will to live is stronger than your need to be accepted. And your need to protect is stronger than your will to live.”    
  
Stella lifted a hand to silence Clare and try her own take at earning Rona’s favor. “What kind of life do you think you’ll have left if you stop now?” She let the quiet seep in, gave a moment for possibilities to process. “We go our separate ways, and what fruits are borne of this idealistic life you’re looking forward to? You’ll be accepted as a half yoma living in a human community? Your lover will be safe, happy, and not ridiculed or abused? The organization won’t decide to hunt you down, using your loved ones as bait to hurt and control you?”    
  
“And you just expect me to go to a foreign land and die in  _ your _ war? So that Adaira has no body to mourn over? To know that if I fail she’ll die horrifically and alone, never having any idea that I didn’t just abandon her? For her to think… I never loved her…”   
  
Clare looked up at the sun, dull behind thick rain clouds. “Sounds to me like you would be fulfilling exactly what you always set out to.” Without moving her head, Clare looked to the side to glimpse Rona’s perplexed expression. “You seem to act like a soldier when it’s convenient for you, but the moment the expectation exceeds the honor, you tuck tail and run. Why don’t you actually uphold the oath you took where you swore to serve your people, no matter the cost?”

Although a rage grew in her heart, Rona stilled herself. Clare was right; she was being a selfish coward, thinking of only her own whims while leaving the masses to the ravaging of those sadistic monsters and their twisted soulless weapons. Rona pressed her palms to her eyes to stay the stinging tears, "What am I supposed to do? I'm not nearly as strong as you seem to think I am."   
  
Clare crouched down in front of Rona, peeling her hands off her face. “We are as strong as we need to be when the time comes.” She helped Rona up to her feet. “Dry your tears, because your resolve is about to be tested sooner than you think.”   
  
As Heslin’s aura faded from their senses, another more menacing one began to well up in its approach. It was vile, like the hot stench from a cesspool, but it carried little fear when the three warriors of the resistance stood together united. It was no doubt the flesh eater, Abdima, blinded by rage, looking to enact some sort of pain on those who were vastly superior and had wounded her ego. Iris at least had the sense to retreat and regroup, salvaging what she could of their failure.   
  
Stella shook her head, though a flicker of dark amusement flashed across her lips. “Idiotic freak. She poses no threat to us.”   
  
Clare nodded, “But she can not leave here with the knowledge that I live.”   
  
“Oh she won’t.” Stella brandished her claymore, ready to put the monster down by her own hand this time.   
  
“Wait,” Rona spoke up, “Maybe we can use her, perhaps she has information that can help us.”   
  
“You think that the one they keep locked in shackles is going to have anything pertinent to say, much less not lie to us?” Stella had but death and vengeance on her mind.   
  
“I never said we had to get it from her willingly.”   
  
That piqued Stella’s interest and she lowered her weapon to hear Rona’s proposition.   
  
“You can kill her when we’re done with her, but if she knows leaders of this operation, how many warriors are on the island or on the mainland, what we’ll be up against, anything can give us an edge. And I know you can get the truth from her, whether she speaks or not.”    
  
Stella looks to Clare, but Clare seemed to be at a loss for the method in which they were going to acquire this information. She chuckled and rubbed her face. “Rona, have I told you that you’re too smart for your own good? But I need concentration for something so delicate.”   
  
“I understand. I think I’m capable of distracting her. It helps that she has beef with me too.” 

Rona looked over to the hill that Heslin stood on just earlier that day, seeing the brute crest the apex, clothes in bloody tatters from Stella’s torture. But without Lune to manipulate others perceptions of reality, the three saw her for what she truly was. Her maw gaped with long jagged teeth, her limbs all gangly, gnarled, and inhuman. Her veins popped and throbbed from her flesh like they were imprisoned beneath the skin and wished to break free. She was the face of the organization’s will, their morals, the physical manifestation of the lengths they were willing to go to in order to resist obliteration.    
  
Rona took up her sword, “Do they all look like that?”   
  
“More or less. Just keep her distracted until I say.” Stella looked to Clare, “Jump in to help if you’re needed, but don’t exert any yoki. We need to keep your presence a secret from the others for as long as possible.”    
  
Abdima chuckled lowly as she approached, “Three against one? I like those odds.”   
  
“You’re a fool if you think you could stand against a single one of us. You couldn’t even kill me, the weakest one here.” Rona just had to keep her focused while Stella worked.   
  
“Before, we were given strict orders not to kill you, but now you’ve pissed me off. And my beautiful Lune isn’t around to hold me back anymore. I know you think you can kill me, but I think you’ll find I’m much different than the facade you’ve played with before.” Her elongated tongue ran across her teeth like a writhing serpent. “I have a belly full of flesh and you even brought me the cunt we’ve been trying to hunt down. If you think I’m dying now, you’re sorely mistaken.”    
  
Rona steadied her breathing, trying to focus through the tension of waiting for the initial strike. The yoki from Abdima was unreadable, it was jumbled and erratic, seemingly at war with itself; It was just as inhuman as the rest of her. From what Heslin said, they would be fighting with all their power from the first strike, but now Rona had no basis of comparison. The fight in the forest was just a game to them, an act to confuse and manipulate, what pool of power did these creatures truly possess?    
  
“Where’s your sword Abdima?” It was easier to see a strike coming from a weapon so large, even if your opponent was vastly faster than you.   
  
“Never cared for it much. I’d rather feel my own hand in your warm entrails.” She raised her grime covered hands. “And unlike your awakened friend, I have no such distaste to warrior flesh; In fact,  _ I crave it. _ ”   
  
Rona anticipated the charge. Abdima was fast, but her motions were not refined. Barbaric, wide arcing swings with the power to cleave her easily in half with a single contact. It was like fighting a feral animal. All Rona had to do was keep her wits about her, her training and skill with a sword could easily keep her on the upper hand as long as she stayed focused and didn’t get sloppy. But something felt wrong, Abdimas eyes were too sharp, too calculating, not glazed over in an untamed fury. She may have her full power at her disposal from the beginning, but to play that hand so soon in the fight was a flaw that even the untamed Abdima knew better of. She was holding back, waiting for the perfect moment, and Rona figured she knew exactly how to coax out the true fight in her opponent. The wide swings were an invitation to a strong centered attack, and that’s exactly what Rona was going to give her. She deflected a strike, and gripped the hilt of her sword low by her right hip, stepping forward to thrust the sword into Abdima’s gut with the force of her whole body behind it. But as soon as she set up the strike, she thrust the sword far away from her body and even threw herself back from her opponent, and not a moment too soon. The limited space was where those lightning fast hands would truly shine, and Abdima was waiting for Rona to press the attack. Sure enough, if Rona had been a second later, Abdimas hands would have torn her trachea straight out of her throat.   
  
But the brute wasn’t quite as dumb as she appeared. Now with Rona having little grip on her own weapon, Abdimas superior strength ripped it from her hands, and in the next moment it hurled towards Stella. Clare made quick work of striking down the sword-turned-projectile before it could hit its target. But that was merely a cheap gamble on Abdima’s half, her real victory was that she had disarmed the skilled swordsman and lowered her to the playing field in which she ruled. 

The first punch was pure indulgence, connecting straight with Rona’s cheek and with a force that almost broke her neck, sending the warrior sprawling. The only thing that kept Rona conscious was the pure adrenaline thrumming through her veins. She was lucky, it could have just as easily spelt death if her opponent has less of a predisposition to toy with her prey. The second connected strike might not leave her so lucky. She looked up at her allies and the message was clear: Stella needed more time, and Clare was making no move to assist. If Rona could not prove herself against this solitary opponent, there was no way she would survive against an army that easily outranked Abdima.   
  
Rona pushed herself up to her knees, slowly getting to her feet while her opponent gloated. “You call us monsters, but they’re not even lifting a finger to help you! This is too rich.”   
  
Rona might be without her sword, but she was not unarmed. Her heart was human, her body a vessel of her will, and her flesh her weapon. She stared Abdima down and squared her shoulders.   
  
“Disregarding your sword completely? You do have a death wish.” Abdima charged, her feet pounding like thunder, ready to end this game, her arm poised to plunge straight into Rona’s chest and rip out her still-beating heart. The thick purple yoma blood surged through her, fueling her muscles with every last ounce of yoki she had at her disposal. She was prepared to make the killing blow and she knew there was no way this regular low numbered warrior could ever dodge or deflect her.    
  
Rona had to simply face exactly what she was. Clinging to the idea she was still a fragile human would be her demise, just as Clare had said. She had to look deeper, she had to reach not into the pool of her yoki for fleeting and destructive strength, but inside her soul and grasp the very essence that gave her life. She was a protector, she refused to buckle, she refused to quit, and THIS would not be the death of her.    
  
Abdima’s fingers made contact with Rona’s chest, the force of the blow practically disintegrating the fabric of her clothing, but they did not pierce. In fact, they crumpled under their own force, the bones shattering from connecting with an immovable object. The frayed fabric of the dress fell away to reveal an absolutely magnificent patch of glinting onyx armor, borne from Rona’s very flesh and volition. This was not a borrowed strength from the monster inside of her, this was a wielding of who Rona was at the core of her being. A culmination of all her strengths, expressed through this vessel that she no longer pushed away, but embraced fully.    
  
She was complete.   
  
She was One.

  
  
_ “If you don't destroy the head, they will regenerate.”  _ Heslin’s wisdom rang through her ears, and she knew what must be done. With a speed that was foreign even to herself, time seemed to slow to a stand still. Rona drew back her own hand, poised to strike in a way that mirrored Abdima’s, and that pitch black armor covered her hand, making a blade that rivaled her sword. 

She thrust without remorse, her hand a vertical line that split Abdima’s skull right between the eyes. There would be no regenerating from that.   
  
With a motion just as swift, Rona pulled out her hand and swung the blood and brain matter off to the ground, the appendage returning to its warm fleshy skin. The lifeless corpse simply crumpled to the ground, and the sudden ringing silence was odd and unnatural.    
  
Rona blinked and wrung her hands, trying to process all that happened within those fractions of moments. She turned back to Clare and Stella, the former’s face one of confirmation, the latter beaming with pride.   
  
Stella burst through the silence, unable to abate her joy any longer. “Rona you were absolutely amazing!”   
  
“I- did I give you enough time to do what you needed?” The compliment made her blush   
  
“You did. And you were right, she knew more than I gave her credit for.”    
  


Clare picked up Rona’s sword and walked to her, handing it over. “Then I think it is time we come up with a plan. We take down the organization once and for all.”


End file.
